Rack for cartons



Dec. 15, 1959 G. s. sNYDE'R RACK FOR cARToNs Filed July ze, 195e 2 Sheets- Sheet 1 INVENTOR Dec.l l5, 1959 Filed July 28, 1958 G. s. SNYDER RACK FOR CARTONS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 .United States Patent() lRACK FOR CARTONS George S. Snyder, 'New York, NY., assignor to The Coca-Cola Company, .New York, .NJ-Y., a corporation fof Delaware y 1 :Applicationaly 2s, 195s, serial No. 751,504 's claims. y(c1. al1- 49)y vwidely`1sed in connection with the sale of soft drinks,

more especially whenpackaged in -cardboard containers such as an open-topped carton formed toprovide a carry- "inghandle and containing compartments Vfor a plurality of bottles vor other containers. Such cartons of bottled goods 'have frequently been stacked one upon another,

`without the use of racks of -shelves of any character but,

for the sake of neatness in appearance and avoidance of accid'ental'breakage, it is desirable to employ a rackfhaving sides and a back to maintain vertical alignment of the fstacked cartons. Such rackshaveheretofore'been pro- `vided vwith shelves upon which the cartons of bottled `goods are placed and supported, a layer of cartons on each "shelf `Such an arrangement possesses the disadvantage that access to the rearmost cartons on a shelf, 'after the :forward cartonshave beeen removed, is impeded by the .presence of the -next higher shelf. Thisdisadvantage has -been overcome, in the case of one such rack now in use, by hingin'g the shelves at the rear and employingsprings for swinging each shelf upwardly after the lastcarton has been removed therefrom, thus exposingthe cartons on the next lower shelf. The cost of such racks is, of course, somewhat greater than that'of racks having lixed'shelves.

`The Ageneral object of the present inventionis the provi sion of a rack of the general character described, but of -a more simple and less expensive construction than -those nmentioned above. More specifically, itis an object of the finventiontoprovide a rack comprising a base, sides, and back, and a plurality of limp, flexible dividers, Aas distinguished from shelves, each adapted to rest upon the tops of the beverage containers in the cartons immediately subjacent thereto, `said dividers lbeing slidably Vmounted in slots provided-in the back portion'ofthefrack and being weighted atv their rearward edges, whereby each flexible divider `will automatically slide rearwardly and fdownwardly as soon as' itis unloaded, therebyexposingthe cary:tons resting upon' th'e nextlowerdividerand the beverage containers therebeneath. Such dividers are provided with stop means at their rearward and forward edges for preventing their accidental withdrawal from the associated slot, either forwardly or rearwardly, and may also be provided with handle means at their forward edges to facilitate drawing the dividers forwardly through their associated slots when the rack is being loaded. The handle means may take various forms, several of which are described and illustrated herein.

Other and further objects, features and advantages will be apparent from the description which follows, read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section through this rack;

Figure 2 is a vertical transverse section on line 2 2 of Figure 1;

joined, -as by welding, into-an integral structure.

Figure 3 is Ia fragmentary horizontal section on line -3-3'of Figure l;

Fi'gure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating a single flexible divider member and its relationship to the associated slot', .and

-Figures 5, 6 and 7 illustrate, respectively, alternative forms of the divider illustrated in Figure 4.

1n order to facilitate an understanding of the invention, reference is made to the embodiments thereof shown in the accompanying drawings and detailed descriptive 1anguage is employed. It will nevertheless be understood thatno limitation of the invention is thereby inteudediand that various changes and alterations are contemplated vsuch as would ordinarily occur to one skilled in the art'to which the invention relates.

A rack constructed in accordance with the presentinvention may be fabricated of any suitable material and in any suitable style, `the essence of the invention residing in the provision of the Aaforementioned vertically spaced, horizontally disposed slots in the back portion and the flexible dividers, Weighted at their rear edges and slidably vmountedinsuch slots. However, for reasons of ease and economyof manufacture, convenience in shipping, durability, etc., it is customary to fabricate display racks ofthe 4general character in question from steel rod stock, suitably bent and welded, and the present rack has been illustrated as so constructed.

The -rack comprises generally a base portion 10, opposite side-.portions 11 and a back portion `13, suitably The base 10l comprises a carton supporting platform'14, which Ymay consistV of a rectangular grillwork of suitable size, a

rectangular framework 15 which rests upon the floor or other surface upon which the rack is located, and vertical members 16 and 17 spacing the platform 14 a suitable ,distanceabove the framework 15. The sides 11 and back 13 are yalso secured to the framework 15 and to leach other, as bywelding, and are formed of interconnected vertical and horizontalrod members, some of which may be curved as illustrated at 18in Figure l. The details of construction of the side members form no part of the present invention, and will not be further described.

The back 13 comprises Vertical members 19 secured to fthe rearward edge of the frameworklS and joined at their upper ends by cross member 21, and, disposed rearwardly of members V19, Avertical members 22 secured to therespective rearward corners of the platform 14 and connected at their upper ends by cross member 23. YThe member 23 is also welded to the vertical members 19, and similar cross members 24, 25, 26 and 27 extend'between,

and are yconnected to, vertical members Y19, at vertically and connected to` the-,latter as well as to members 19.

Another series ofcrosstmembers 23, 29 30,31fand2 extend horizontally between, and are Welded to, ythe forward surfaces of vertical members 19, the cross members 28-32 being disposed slightly below the respective cross members 23-27. Thus, the cross members 23 and 28 define upper and lower edges of a horizontal slot extending between vertical members 19, and similar slots are formed, at vertically spaced intervals, between cross members 24 and 29, cross members 25 and 30, cross members 26 and 31, and cross members 27 and 32. The back portion 13 is completed by the provision of vertical members 33, the respective ends of which are bent forwardly and welded to cross member 21 and to framework 15, respectively, the purpose of the members 33 being to space the entire rack suitably outward from a wall or other vertical surface against which it may be located, to provide working room for the flexible dividers to be described. The members `from being withdrawn from its associated slot.

2,917,1soe I Y',

33 may be two or more in number, four being illustratedv 228, etc., the dividers 34 being preferably formed of plastic material of sufficient stiffness to resist wrinkrling "or inadvertent creasing, but having no permanent 's et and bemg f suflicient flexibility to allow them readily to slide, by

gravity, from the full line position of the lowermost di- 'vider 34 in Figure 1 to the dotted line positionof-same,

flexing about the cross members 28-32, as the case may be, as they do so. Each divider'34 is provided with a :weight at its rearward edge which weight, in theV illustrated embodiment, comprises a metal rod 35 extending entirely across the divider 34 and projecting beyond the -side edges thereof so as to engage against vertical members 22 when the divider is pulled forwardly, to prevent it The rod 35 may be secured to the divider 34 in any suitable fashion, as by being inserted and adhesively secured in a 'ing the divider forwardly, and as a stop means for preventing the divider from sliding out of its associated slot as it moves rearwardly, the rod 37 being adapted to en- `gage vertical members 19 when the divider 34 moves rearwardly.

In the embodiment of Figure 5 the divider 34 is pro- -vided with an integral roll 38 of the same material, which serves as handle and stop member, being of a diameter which exceeds the vertical dimension of the associated slot. In Figure 6 the divider 34 is provided with a rigid upturned flange 39 serving the same purposes, and in Figure 7 with a rigid, upstanding handle 40 for like purposes.

As will be seen from Figure 1, the base portion 10 is of such vertical dimension that the spacing of the platform 14 from the oor, when added to the vertical dimension of the containers to be supported thereon, at least equals the fore and aft dimension of the lowermost divider 34. Thus, when the latter is in the retracted position illustrated in dotted lines, the rearward edge thereof will not reach the floor, and the divider, therefore, cannot interfere with convenient loading of the platform 14. In loading the rack, the platform 14 is completely loaded with a suitable number of cartons of beverage containers, after which the lowermost divider 34 is drawn forwardly and another layer of cartons is disposed thereon. The next higher divider 34 is then drawn forwardly and the operation repeated until the rack is completely loaded, the last layer of cartons being disposed upon the uppermost divider 34.

As each layer of cartons is removed, as by purchase, Ithe removal of the last carton of such layer` releases the underlying divider 34, which will then automatically slide rearwardly exposing the next subjacent layer of cartons. In this manner, each carton of each layer is made completely accessible to the prospective customer, and may be removed from the rack readily anad without di'iculty.

In this way, the inconvenience and loss of space involved in the use of fixed shelves are avoided, and the expense and possible malfunctioning of hinged shelves are also avoided.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A display rack for articles comprising a horizontal base, vertical sides and a vertical back portion connecting the rearward edges of said sides, said sides and back portion being secured to and extending upwardly from said base, said base comprising a platform for supporting articles to be displayed, said back portion being formed to provide horizontal slots extending therethrough from side to side at spaced intervals above said platform, which intervals correspond to the vertical dimension of the articles to be displayed, and a limp, exible divider member slidably mounted in each said slot for fore-and-aft movement therein, each said flexible divider member having stop means at its forward and rearward edges to prevent its withdrawal from said slot, and means weighting each said flexible divider at its rearward edge suiciently to cause said divider automatically to slide rearwardly and downwardly to a position behind said back portion when unloaded.

2. A device according to claim l, including means spacing said platform above a iioor or other surface upon which said rack is positioned, the amount of such spacing, added to the distance above said platform of said lowermost slot, being not less than the fore-and-aft dimension of the divider mounted in said lowermost slot.

3. A device according to claim l, including means secured to and projecting rearwardly from said back portion to space the latter from other objects by a distance not less than that occupied by said said dividers when the latter are in their unloaded position.

4. A device according to claim l, said stop means and weighting means at the rearward edges of said dividers comprising elongated weights projecting laterally beyond the side edges of said slots.

5. A device according to claim 1, said stop means at the forward edges of said dividers comprising upturned members of a height exceeding the vertical dimension of said slots.

6. A device according to claim 1, said stop means at the forward edges of said dividers comprising members projecting laterally beyond the side edges of said slots.

7. A device according to claim l, said stop means at lthe forward edges of said dividers serving also as handles for pulling said dividers forwardly.

8. A device according to claim l, said dividers comprising limp, liexible sheets of'extruded plastic material of sufficient stiffness to resist wrinkling. y

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,333,516 Thomsen Mar. 9, 1920 2,057,544 Stratton Oct. 13, 1936 2,852,143 Taber Sept. 16, 195,8 

